First certified manuka honey launched

First certified manuka
honey launched in wake of scientist’s discovery of
antibacterial ingredient

Manuka Health New Zealand Ltd
today announced the launch of the first manuka honey
products certified to contain specified levels of the
antibacterial ingredient.

This follows publication by a
German university scientist of a paper which shows for the
first time the natural compound Methylglyoxal is responsible
for manuka honey’s unique health-giving
properties.

Manuka Health chief executive Kerry Paul said
the University of Dresden’s discovery was highly
significant for the honey industry and for
consumers.

“We now know the natural compound
Methylglyoxal is what makes manuka honey special.”

“As
a result Manuka Health is proud to be the first company to
market manuka honey indicating the Methylglyoxal level.

Mr
Paul predicted the MGO™ Manuka Honey scale would become
the standard against which Manuka honey would be measured in
future.

MGO™ Manuka Honey will be available in stores
from this week with Methylglyoxal levels ranging from 100 to
700 mg/kg indicated by collar labels.

Manuka Health New Zealand Ltd is a honey
health science company which develops and exports bee
products such as Manuka honey, propolis extracts, bee
pollen, bee venom and royal jelly
(http://www.manukahealth.co.nz).

MGO™ Manuka Honey is a
trademark of Manuka Health New Zealand Ltd. The University
of Dresden is a research partner of Manuka Health New
Zealand Ltd.

The launch of the MGO™ Manuka Honey range
coincides with the publication in a scientific journal of an
article identifying Methylglyoxal as the dominant
antibacterial constituent in Manuka honey.

Professor Dr.
Thomas Henle, Head of the Institute of Food Chemistry at the
Technical University of Dresden, writing in Molecular
Nutrition and Food Research, refers to the results of a
Dresden study which “unambiguously demonstrates for the
first time that Methylglyoxal is directly responsible for
the antibacterial activity of manuka honey.”

Prof Henle
notes the high amounts of Methylglyoxal found in manuka
honey have not been found in any other food.

Researchers
at the university analysed 40 samples of honey from various
sources around the world, including six New Zealand manuka
honeys.

They found Methylglyoxal levels in the manuka
honeys, including a Manuka Health product, were up to
1000-fold higher than in the non-manuka products.

Their
tests found a median Methylglyoxal level in non-manuka
honeys of 3.1 mg/kg. Concentrations of the compound in
manuka honey ranged from 38 to 761 mg/kg. A minimum of 100
mg/kg is required for effective antibacterial
activity.

The Technical University of Dresden is one of
the oldest and most prestigious German Universities, located
in Saxony (http://tu-dresden.de)

The university’s
Institute of Food Chemistry is a world leader in food
analysis, in particular analysis of compounds resulting from
glycation reactions and carbohydrate degradation (a process
which proteins and carbohydrates undergo during food
processing and storage).

The university’s skill base
attracts major multi-nationals to collaborate in research.
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra interchanges staff and
students with the university to carry out
research.

Professor Henle is a world-leading chemist
in understanding how carbohydrates in food change in
response to certain conditions. He has published more than
80 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals since 1991.

Professor Henle is joint Editor in Chief of the
journal“European Food Research and Technology”,
president of the German Society of Food Chemistry, a member
of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Institute
for Risk Assessment, and a referee of the German Research
Society.

(An abstract of Prof Henle’s article is
available from the Molecular Nutrition and Food Research
website -
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/117891459/ABSTRACT

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